The second season of Solo Leveling was one of the best seasons of anime in recent history, and the anime made a lot of changes from the manhwa. The second season of Solo Leveling was one of the fastest past adaptations around, for better or for worse. One of Solo Leveling's best aspects is how quickly the events in the series transpire. There aren't many series as fast-paced as Solo Leveling, but the downside of such quick pacing is the amount of events that get omitted from the manhwa.

There were tons of changes from the manhwa, and most of them would have made the anime much better. The Solo Leveling anime looks to adapt about 200 chapters worth of the manhwa into what looks to be around 4 seasons of anime. A-1 Pictures, the animation studio behind Solo Leveling, could spend at least 6–7 seasons on the show, but if they're willing to omit this much, they'll zoom through the rest.

10 Jinwoo And His Shadows Have A Much Closer Connection In The Manhwa

Jinwoo's Shadows Don't Have Any Personality In The Anime

One of the most disappointing changes the Solo Leveling anime has made from the manhwa is Jinwoo's connection with his Shadows. Jinwoo's Shadows are some of the most interesting aspects of the show. While Jinwoo himself is easily one of Solo Leveling, his Shadows add heavily to his overall firepower. In the anime, they're nothing more than emotionless foot soldiers who accomplish their mission without any expression.

In the manhwa, Jinwoo has a much closer connection to his Shadows. He's often talking to them, and even though they don't develop speech for a while, they express themselves through hand signals and facial expressions.

It's a pretty understandable change, however, as the pacing of the anime wouldn't allow for that many interactions between Jinwoo and his Army. If the anime was a little slower, these interactions would be absolutely worth the change.

9 The Anime Dedicates An Entire Episode To Jinwoo's Mom

The Manhwa Didn't Spend As Much Time On Their Emotional Reunion

The Solo Leveling anime is different from the manhwa right away. In the manhwa, Jinwoo is getting stronger without a clear goal. He works as a Hunter to pay for his sister's education and his mom's medicine, and when he reawakens after the Double Dungeon, he gets stronger while doing the same thing.

The anime gives him a different goal almost right away. In the Solo Leveling anime, Jinwoo is made aware of the Elixir of Life much earlier, giving him a clear-cut goal to work towards. In some ways, it's a great change. Jinwoo's story makes a lot more sense when he's focusing on curing his mother, and when he finally does, it's incredibly fulfilling.

Solo Leveling is almost entirely action; however, Jinwoo's reunion with his mother after four years is one of the most emotionally moving moments in the series. It's a controversial episode because of how far it strays away from the action of the series, but it's more than worth it. While the manhwa doesn't spend that much time on the event, the anime does, dedicating an entire episode to Jinwoo, his mother, and their reunited family.

8 Jinwoo Isn't As Dark In The Anime

The Manhwa Depicts Jinwoo As A Much Darker Character Than The Anime Does

One of the biggest changes from the Solo Leveling manhwa is Jinwoo's character. In the anime, he isn't nearly as dark as he is in the webtoon. There are two major examples of this aspect that the anime went out of its way to change: Jinwoo's time as a vigilante and his interactions with Kim Chul. Jinwoo spends a little bit of time as a vigilante in the Solo Leveling manhwa, stopping crime around his neighborhood.

He's particularly brutal when he does it, threatening the criminals that if they don't turn themselves in within a certain timeframe, he'll kill them. The second event is during the Red Gate Arc with his future Shadow soldier Iron. Kim Chul holds an unwarranted grudge against Jinwoo, and while Jinwoo might be able to deescalate the situation, he chooses the opposite.

Barca's name in the Solo Leveling manhwa is "Baruka".

He realizes that he needs another powerful Shadow to take down Barca, so he goads Kim Chul into attacking him so he has a reason to kill him. Both events are much darker than the scenes the anime put forward, and they make for an interesting pair of changes.

7 The Japanese Hunters Are Much More Evil In The Manhwa

The Anime Makes Only The Japanese Chairman Seem Evil

The Fourth Jeju Island Raid sees both the Korean and Japanese Hunters Associations work together to defend their homes from the impending threat of the Ants. The Korean Hunters Association genuinely wants to cooperate for the sake of humanity, but the Japanese Hunters Association has other plans in mind. In the manhwa, from the very beginning, the Japanese are depicted as cruel, disrespectful, and altogether selfish characters.

During the sparring match between the two groups of Hunters, the Japanese are constantly looking down on their Korean counterparts. They're much more evil in the manhwa, making their later deaths to the Ant King much more satisfying. The anime doesn't show any of this, making their deaths brutal to watch. It's a change that makes sense in of pacing, but showing the evil side of the Japanese Hunters would have made their deaths make more sense.

6 There Aren't Any National Level Hunters In The Anime

Thomas Andre And Liu Zhigang Aren't Given The Special Title In Season 2

One of the oddest changes to the Solo Leveling anime is the omission of National Level Hunters. To be clear, the National Level Hunters are in the anime, but their special ranks aren't brought up once. Both Thomas Andre, the world's top-ranked Hunter, and Liu Zhigang, China's number one Hunter, are shown in the anime, but they're seen as normal S-Rank Hunters.

Thomas Andre and Liu Zhigang are far from normal S-Rank Hunters; their power is quite literally equal to an entire nation's. It's not a significant change, which makes it seem even more odd. The characters who rank as National Level are still in the series, so why isn't their rank brought up? Maybe the Solo Leveling anime is planning on revealing it later in the series, but it seems like a weird choice not to bring it up when the manhwa did.

5 Jinwoo Doesn't Try To Add The Ant Queen To His Army In The Anime

The Manhwa Gives A Pretty Cool Reason As To Why He Can't Make Her A Shadow As Well

Out of all of Jinwoo's abilities as the Second Shadow Monarch, his ability to add Shadows to his ever-growing army has to be one of his best. His Shadows are one of the most entertaining aspects of the series, and nothing is better than watching Jinwoo add another strong soldier to his ranks.

After defeating the Ant King and adding him to his army as Beru, he tries to add the Ant Queen as well. In the anime, he doesn't attempt to add her at all in another odd change. In the Solo Leveling manhwa, he adds the Ant Queen to his army. He then sees that she is much weaker than he would have thought; Beru tells him that this is because the Ant Queen's greatest strength lies in her ability to produce Ants, which is something she can't do as a Shadow.

The Ant Queen also weakens Jinwoo's connection to the Ants in his army because they don't know who to listen to, giving Jinwoo two good reasons to dismiss one of Solo Leveling from his army.

4 Jinwoo Acts Like Batman Before Jeju Island In The Anime

In The Manhwa, He's Just Walking Around Before He Shadow Exchanges

Arguably the most hyped moment of Solo Leveling is Jinwoo's arrival on Jeju Island. He told everyone that he didn't plan on going in the first place. It was understandable, as Jinwoo had just got his mom back after four years. In the manhwa, Jinwoo is walking through a park when he senses the Shadows he put on the Korean S-Rank Hunters begin defending his fellow S-Ranks.

The anime exaggerates the moment a little too much. In the anime, Jinwoo is sitting on top of a building looking like a hero from the DC Universe. Both scenes see him utter the exciting singular command "Exchange", sending the Second Shadow Monarch straight to the battle.

Jinwoo didn't need to be on the rooftop to make the moment exciting. It's a goofy change that was entirely unneeded, as no matter where Jinwoo was, his decision to head to Jeju was always going to be as thrilling as it gets.

3 Goto Ryuji Fears Sung Jinwoo

The Anime Skipped Goto Ryuji Sensing Jinwoo's Powers Entirely

Goto Ryuji is a prideful, disrespectful character in the Solo Leveling manhwa. While the Chairman of the Japanese Hunters Association is the man to come up with the plan to erase Korea's best Hunters, Goto Ryuji goes along with it without an issue.

When he sees Jinwoo's skill against one of Japan's strongest S-Rank Hunters, he decides to test Jinwoo's strength himself. Their fight is one of the best in Solo Leveling season 2, but one change made it a lot worse.

The fight is almost identical in the Solo Leveling manhwa as the anime, but the ending is vastly different. When Jinwoo and Ryuji step back to deliver massive blows to one another, before their fellow Hunters are there to stop them, Goto Ryuji sees death emanating from Jinwoo. It's the first time in his career he's felt like he was going to die, and he looks at Jinwoo in an entirely different light.

2 There's Almost No Comedy In The Solo Leveling Anime

The Manhwa Is Filled With Hilarious Moments

Solo Leveling is becoming one of the best anime of all time because of how great the action is. The series is so fast-paced, almost every episode has a crazy fight worth watching over and over again. In the manhwa, however, the action isn't the only reason to watch the show. There are a ton of hilarious moments in the anime, adding even more depth to one of the best series of the past few years.

Jinwoo's Shadows can be hilarious in the manhwa. Even before they learn how to speak, they're filled with personality that radiates out of them all the time. The expressions in the Solo Leveling are another funny aspect, as Jinho, Jinwoo's Shadows, and even Jinwoo himself make crazy expressions that get laughs out of every reader.

Maybe the anime didn't want to risk such a stark change in tone, but it's missing out on a lot if it doesn't add some of these moments to the adaptation.

1 The Fights In The Solo Leveling Anime Are Much Longer

The Manhwa Rarely Shows Jinwoo Struggle In A Fight

There's no doubt about it: the fights in Solo Leveling are the biggest and best reasons to watch the series. The fights are so good that Crunchyroll posts just about all of them directly onto their official YouTube channel for everyone to enjoy in stunning 1080p. The fights are the best part of both the Solo Leveling anime and manhwa, but they're much longer in the anime.

In the Solo Leveling manhwa, Jinwoo almost never struggles with an opponent. In one of the best fights in anime history, Jinwoo takes on the Ant King to cement himself as one of the strongest Hunters in the world. In the anime, it's a close fight that requires Jinwoo to go all out. In the manhwa, however, it's closer to a one-sided beat down.

His fight against the Ant King in the manhwa was a lot like Gon's "fight" against Neferpitou in that it wasn't much of a fight at all. It's a great change, as the long fights really bring out the most of Solo Leveling and the characters in them.